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Concealed Carry Options

At my Georgia Carry.org speaking engagement, a few weeks ago, a woman raised an issue for which I didn’t have a good immediate response. She said her place of employment did not allow the carrying of a firearm, concealed or otherwise.

Now, I can understand a person choosing one coffee shop over another, based on their corporate policy toward concealed carry, but in this situation, it seemed highly inappropriate to suggest that this woman reconsider her place of employment. I also think she wouldn’t have appreciated the offer of a solution that included her defying her employer’s wishes. So what could I say to this question?

In hindsight, I realized that I should have brought up the other option written right into the concealed carry laws of the Georgia code. According to our carry permits we are entitled to carry a defensive or offensive blade longer than five inches which is attached to a handle. I imagine, that if you have trained with for defensive use of a knife, four inches could be sufficient, but since we have the option, why not go with six?

I’m not saying this is the best case scenario. Knives are dangerous, and messy, and frankly, they make me nervous. And yet, I am keenly aware of the sense of power that is exuded by a woman who is armed and prepared to defend herself. Sometimes this may be all that is needed to force a criminal to look elsewhere for a victim. So maybe a knife wouldn’t be right for me if I were in such a situation, maybe I would consider regular martial arts instruction, but I wanted to write this post so that the woman who posed the question, and others, received a viable option from me.

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5 comments for “Concealed Carry Options”

Bob Damon

September 2, 2013 at 08:59

Many people work in places you can’t carry. I work on a USAF base, no guns allowed, no knife over 2.5 inches. I routinely see people with folders and fixed blades over the limit, but I think as long as you keep it reasonable, there won’t be an issue. The point is there are a lot of people that work on Federal installations. The advice for those people is to not bring a weapon. If you work in a private company, carrying might get you fired, but won’t be a federal crime. While Georgia might allow for a large fixed blade, if she works on federal property, the large blade is not an option.
If she wants to take some training, she could carry a knife, but relying on a knife without training and the confidence derived by the training makes for a high risk of failure.

Indeed a longer blade might be illegal or otherwise prohibited in some areas. But you can do a lot of damage with a 2.5″ blade, some instruction followed by practice, and adamant refusal to be a victim or statistic.

As for the safety of the drink………..I’d be more concerned about ingesting lead. All of the hand washing and ventilation in the world isn’t going to help when you wrap your lips around the lead dust coated straw.

improvise

September 4, 2013 at 00:20

This is not easy. I work in nuclear power plants. Federal laws prevent people from CCW or even having a weapon stored in your vehicle in the parking lot. The utility will fire anyone who brings a gun to work. This includes the guys and girls maintaining power lines in the field in the middle of the night or in the office too. Fortunately a nuclear power pant is probably the safest place next to the the White House. Lots of armed guards, every one is drug tested and has a psych exam regularly.

What can you do to provide protection for yourself where weapons are not allowed? I also have worked in the field and in the corporate offices, including nights and weekends. Improvise/Camouflage. Tools have multiple uses. “The 1-1/4″ combination wrench and hammers in this drawer are used to adjust our cubicles.” “I use my leatherman (with a lockback knife) to pull staples.” “That is my flashlight I carry everywhere for inspections and to my car, a 5 D-cell Maglight.” Of course I have a knife, fork and spoon in my desk. It is not perfect, but this gives me options and hopefully triggers a bad guys victim response alarms.